Feeling nostalgic to talk about '90s Detroit Techno.

I may be trying to jump start a dead battery here, but I am not going to let the Detroit Techno scene [[and all of it's original contributions) be treated like everyone was going through some embarrassing "disco phase". I have quite a bit to say about seeing as I was a contributor during the last golden efforts of it. As stated in a previous thread, we never called them "raves"; that was something HighTimes would try to hype [[but like most things on the internet, as the original story gets retold, a lot of prevailing facts and issues get misrepresented with extreme prominence-in this case, how techno nostalgia is being written up in commercial hype by those who should know better).

Most of the venues mentioned deserve embellishment. The spot at the short-lived Bittersweet coffeeshop was called "Better Days" and usually carried music until early in the morning. Timbo's was a tad bit too shady for some folks, as it's club situation was riding piggy back to the original stripclub venue that hosted it. Mack & Beleville [[lovingly referred to by many as "Crack & Hellville", as it was a corruptly-run scene with frequent police busts-some encouraged by the promoters who wanted to wrap it up and take the money and go). Under the Bridge was always off the chain. The Firehouse was nestled in the Milwaukee Baltimore area; it had good functions, but some rapes were reported there. The Butcherhouse was a short-lived [[now razed) situation at Joseph Campeau and Hunt-strange spot: it was decreed "haunted" by many as it was a former slaughterhouse, a hideout for the Purple Gang [[with a suspected coal chute for body dumping-in fact, the basement was very eerie and had undue amounts of uneven concrete added to the floor), and a place where a Panther shoot-out with cops occurred. Standby for more reports....

Sweet description.

Also, I noticed how you spelled Campeau the way it is usually spelled in Canuckistan.

I just remember Mike Clark and the Direkt Drive crew showing up in random people's basement parties in the early-mid eighties. We called it prep-music, cuz all the preppy kids were usually the ones throwing the parties and the music had that really "campy" feel [[think fast handclapping above your head), which when I hear today, in newer or older form still reminds me of it being distincly Detroit. Derrick May used to have a hand drawn sign that said "DJ Derrick May Scientist at Work" at the Liedernacht [[City-Club) when he would spin on Wednesdays or Thursdays in 85. He could throw down, but then he would also drop Malcolm McClaren's "Madame Butterfly"

There were some really good dancers back then. There were these guys who would kick really high [[we called them kickers) but then there were the dudes with the footwork, who looked like they barely moved a muscle, but could throw down.

Someone definitely went to Chari Vari this weekend :)

I remember doing a balloon and falling down the stairs at Better Days. Good times, I tell you.

Crack and smellvue. What about the whorehouse and the chop shop off of fullerton? Years later their was an after hours called bagley optical that seemed to house some of victor's old associates. It has since been shut down. http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/...-building.html

I was going to the parties toward the end of the scene[[99-01), I was in high school at the time. I remember going to the I believe white party and leaving hours before the problem makers raided it. That was the real beginning of the end for it.

Here is one of the investigations, I remember going to a a party at 4 bears as well but only once because I felt that the plug could be pulled real quick out there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoHx...qp3tHfkBgri2EA

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Originally Posted by Oddz313

...Here is one of the investigations, ...

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That seemed a bit hyperbolic. The guy that died put a plastic bag over his head. I'd say that was more of the cause of death than the N₂O in the bag. They put suffocation warnings on those bags for a reason.

The main Problem solvers investigations started after some guy got shot at the dime store party spot I believe. They were on a rampage for a good year until the scene died out. At least as it was. In the mid 00's the scene was starting to come back a little through after hours and CAID but we all know about what happened at the CAID

They were not going to blame the kid or his parents, that's not a story

I had a friend that did a lot of promo work. I'd handle tech support occasionally. Helped set up a Transmat party at the Detroit Science Center once - got to see all the old exhibits they warehouse behind the IMAX dome. There was a place on Harper near city airport in an empty theater that would get pretty crazy. Jungle night at Alvin's on Sunday nights. After parties at Zoots.

Four Bears was pretty crazy for a blip. Autechre played there once.

What was that "notorious" after hours club called? Butter world?

Shoot now I need to dust off the 1200 and blast this....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWmGKdDBkK0

Where were the stairs? I remember it was first floor only.

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Originally Posted by Armin

I remember doing a balloon and falling down the stairs at Better Days. Good times, I tell you.

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Ya the theatre on Harper and Van Dyke is a pile of bricks now

Thanks for those locations. Almost forgot them. I had no idea Victor and his rooskies were with Bagley optical; that would explain the tragedy that went down there. That Southgate kid getting killed sparked the huge citysweep lockdown the cops and Fox news always wanted. In fact, I always felt the powers-that-be had something to do with initiating the very "chip" that wouldn't get knocked off the city's shoulders themselves-for despite the news hype, the scene still remained relatively stable month after month after month. After that, it was "cranberries" for Christmas in 1999-with flashing lights and all-rounding kids up for questioning. Knew some Indianapolis kids who tried to make a go with that one location. Where was the whorehouse, again? I heard there was an odd party thrown at a supermarket, once.

Oh Transmat....I actually worked at the old Science Center-announcing IMAX shows and running the gift store [[swiped a yo-yo that later got swiped from me by a porn actress). Funny thing about sitting there bored reading Philip K. Dick and William Gibson books and looking up to see a giant lunar capsule suspended from the ceiling. Got to hang out with Transmat alum James Pennington a few times, and that happened because I actually worked at the that old pile of bricks before the gay afterhours took it over and after that, a corrupt "Health & wealth" church from Florida. Hope Ko & Johnny Knoxville didn't get asbestos poisoning from the firewall curtain Wolf & Wesley tore down to remodel for "Heaven's Playground"-cuz' that area was contaminated.
Sundays at Alvins was a noble but short-lived effort called "D'Jungle", and Rotator used to spin there. Otherwise, Wednesday night was Family Funktion night. Leto used to work those nights. They had open mic, and I still have an old flier [[Clinton coming out of the Mothership Connection saucer) with Eminem's name at the bottom of the list.
Zoots was one big afterhours every night [[stayed open until 4a.-great for an after-bar stop-off), and the crazy thing, was the crowd varied so much, you couldn't sum it up by just one night's visit [[Techno was just one facet among many). I haven't seen another place like it, since. They not only had EXAT on Mondays [[Bubbilicious would spin, and Zakrin-aka. Ghost 200-spun and displayed awesome artwork there.), but they ran a crafty map-spot there.
Funny story: during one map-spot excursion, the head-promoter got fed up with tactless candy-raver kids from the stix tromping up and inquiring loudly about the location of "the rave" [[us porch-monkeys would just send em' down to the hotel "Crackstone' down the way, and they'd come back saying "there's no rave tickets there, but it did sure smell funny"). He announced to everyone that he'd get the next loud group that came in to take down their pants, and sure enough, a group of four came in all garish. He met there questions with a concern as to whether they were cops wearing wires. With a short trade off, they eventually dropped them. I think by the time everyone in the house had stopped the uproarious laughter, those red-faced kids were already speeding down the Interstate back home. Ahhh...memories.

The memories are fading with each passing year, but Motor Lounge, the packard raves[[remember that black gunk that you would be covered in the next morning? Probably Toxic) oh and you cant forget Richie Hawtins crazy Barn out in Essex County[[i remember it being made out of metal and making a unique sound from all the bass)

Related Article[[by red-bull soda, but not bad):
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/m...ene-in-the-90s

The whorehouse was right outside the packard plant. If i remember correctly. Had low ceilings and may have been a school house at 1 point. It was a small location. There were little rooms along the side wall and would run tanks back there. Thought the slaughterhouse was in Eastern Market but yeah. Rapidly fading memories. I was there when it was getting raided once. I would go to those warehouse parties back btw 97 and 01. Others I sorta remember. Butternut and Tilden. My favorite was the Theater. First place i went was under the bridge. Chopshop. Never went to the Packard. I remember a spot around 7 and mound that seemed to be a school bus garage. There was an afterhours in Eastern Market I would go to. I forget the name of it. I saw V's buddy O a couple years ago. Names being withheld to protect the identities of the innocent. Not that any of them were innocent but i dont like to namedrop. My friend was picking up a tank outside a gas station on the westside on our way to Chicago. Look over and there he is.
Motor was where it was at TBH.

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Originally Posted by G-DDT

Thanks for those locations. Almost forgot them. I had no idea Victor and his rooskies were with Bagley optical; that would explain the tragedy that went down there. That Southgate kid getting killed sparked the huge citysweep lockdown the cops and Fox news always wanted. In fact, I always felt the powers-that-be had something to do with initiating the very "chip" that wouldn't get knocked off the city's shoulders themselves-for despite the news hype, the scene still remained relatively stable month after month after month. After that, it was "cranberries" for Christmas in 1999-with flashing lights and all-rounding kids up for questioning. Knew some Indianapolis kids who tried to make a go with that one location. Where was the whorehouse, again? I heard there was an odd party thrown at a supermarket, once.

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On concord

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Originally Posted by rex

The whorehouse was right outside the packard plant. If i remember correctly. Had low ceilings and may have been a school house at 1 point. It was a small location. There were little rooms along the side wall and would run tanks back there. Thought the slaughterhouse was in Eastern Market but yeah. Rapidly fading memories. I was there when it was getting raided once. I would go to those warehouse parties back btw 97 and 01. Others I sorta remember. Butternut and Tilden. My favorite was the Theater. First place i went was under the bridge. Chopshop. Never went to the Packard. I remember a spot around 7 and mound that seemed to be a school bus garage. There was an afterhours in Eastern Market I would go to. I forget the name of it. I saw V's buddy O a couple years ago. Names being withheld to protect the identities of the innocent. Not that any of them were innocent but i dont like to namedrop. My friend was picking up a tank outside a gas station on the westside on our way to Chicago. Look over and there he is.
Motor was where it was at TBH.

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Oh ya I remember the school bus Depot, I went there once. I miss those days in the city, the economy was good, higher population and things were less superficial in general.

Thanks for the locations. I missed out on the Packard, as well, but I was told it was "gig nose" folks contracted from partying there-all that black gunk all up in your nostrils. The firehouse was an odd locale in that industrial area I remember getting my car broken in there once, some guy involved in it supposedly died/killed/faked their own death [[?!), and I still remember the suspicious goateed kid loudly asking people for "X" [[thought folks called it "E")-others would reply "uh-I smell pork, I smell pork"-sure enough, a few years ago I went to a tamale place in Mexicantown with my mom only to see the same kid dressed in a vest and tie with a holster and detective badge dining at a table with cops. Gosh, isn't it amazing how cunning-deceitfulness pays off?
There was a really filthy afterhours on Milwaukee run by guys who thought showing videos of bestiality or G.G. Allen getting a golden shower was "really cool"...
The only thing that kept the theater legit was not serving alcohol, not allowing bulk drugs to be sold/distributed there, and the absence of a "tank'. The last two points made us very unpopular with a lot of promoters [[except the clean operations-after all, like the Spinners-not the R & B group-were to the Grateful Dead, so were there strait-edge party folk-like maybe P.L.U.R.?); that, and some kid got shot in the arm during the New Years lockdown while trying to rip-off crack dealers running a bogus parking lot. We drove them away, but the ridiculous rumors that a dozen kids got "massacred" right outside the door that night was hard to shake. DJ Hurricane played that night, and it was the last big one, before it started going downhill for us.
That place was odd. I have no idea what will be done with it. It was probably built around the same time the Shandor Apartments were built [[LOL), had over six sub-basements in the theater section, it's own Edison substation [[enough to power the whole neighborhood), and was a capacitor of some kind....not to open the paranormal can of worms again, but having never seen a ghost, I do recall eerie, vacant time roaming the outer halls, distinctly hearing radio music in the theater. Thinking somone had left the clack-radio on the stage on, I'd open the doors, a rush of wind, and complete silence......supposedly, two girls got killed by some mentally deranged hippie back in the early '70s.
I could tell so much, much more-the cold winters, fighting deluges of leaking water, so many head wounds, and yet, pulling off so many stunts and good times during and after showtime. Met some folks from Hieroglyphics there. Wish I had done more to have been resourceful and providing.

Sorry. Not used to the brevity of threads-I'll behave. Anyone remember the coffeehouses like Asteroids, Cloud 9, and the the Grind on Trumbull?

Please continue with the non-brevity G-DDT! I love hearing these stories at someone who goes to both legit and non-legit events these days. To hear the stories of the stuff that happened right before my time [[we're talking I missed it by 2-3 years) is something I love, and we need to document this history since it seems this may become "The Lost Years" for Detroit's music scene, where everyone knows it exists but the history is super fuzzy.

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Originally Posted by G-DDT

[[swiped a yo-yo that later got swiped from me by a porn actress)

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Could we hear more on this, please?

Great thread. I attend some parties organized by PlurKids as I had to come to know the organizers. I was fascinated with the creative re-use of abandoned structures-- still am -- that this culture was effecting. One of them was held at the Eastown theater chronicled here: www.detroityes.com/webisodes/2000/20ravisode/index.html.

We're any of you there? This is reputed to be one of the greatest parties/raves in Detroit techno history set in a fabulous Detroit ruin setting. I was allowed to be a fly on the wall from set up to finish and given a full access pass. [[I was also the oldest person there by a couple of decades.)

It was a very orderly and well-run event complete with roving security to watch over parked cars. The music was the best including the legendary Carl Craig.

I played the '99 NY party at the Eastown, it was a very interesting night to say the least. :) I think this was prior to the PlurKids; Gabe Real promoted the night.

The firehouse was on Milwaukee just west of the Milwaukee Park Lofts. Never went but her a lot of good things.

One of the most frightening things that ever happened at Bagley Optical was having one of the Russkies have a seizure right in front of me [[he was solo that night, unusual) and having to turn him on his side and hold him. It lasted for a few minutes, and when he came to he instinctively reached for his snub-nose .38 and started waving it around confusedly inches from my face. He finally realized where he was was and what happened, and put it away. Got some free drinks for a while from him.

Also saw Proof in the there about a week before he was killed. That was not a good night.

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Originally Posted by Islandman

I played the '99 NY party at the Eastown, it was a very interesting night to say the least. :) I think this was prior to the PlurKids; Gabe Real promoted the night.

The firehouse was on Milwaukee just west of the Milwaukee Park Lofts. Never went but her a lot of good things.

One of the most frightening things that ever happened at Bagley Optical was having one of the Russkies have a seizure right in front of me [[he was solo that night, unusual) and having to turn him on his side and hold him. It lasted for a few minutes, and when he came to he instinctively reached for his snub-nose .38 and started waving it around confusedly inches from my face. He finally realized where he was was and what happened, and put it away. Got some free drinks for a while from him.

Also saw Proof in the there about a week before he was killed. That was not a good night.

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Ya I puked all on the floor while leaving bagley once and the guy who ran it was stepping in my puke asking me why I was leaving so early. I never went back, place was always sketchy and not packed enough. I seen proof there before as well, one of those wake up calls about living your life on the edge at all times of the night in illicit places. I guess that's what happens when you get a little bit older, the hood don't change but you do.